Assessment of the exposure of children to electromagnetic fields from wireless communication devices in home environments

Abstract

Wireless technologies have transformed human lifestyles giving rise to research on electromagnetic (EM) field exposure assessment by prioritising what are considered as potentially the more vulnerable groups, such as children. The method presented in this study for assessing the exposure of children to EM fields from wireless communication devices consists of a statistical survey of families describing typical daily exposure to wireless devices followed by the estimation of the highest whole-body averaged specific absorption rate (SAR) between the vertical and horizontal polarisations (SAR WBmax ) for different devices according to the distance to the user using measured electric field data. Survey outputs, including daily exposure in hours and reported exposure distances, were used to identify spots for in situ experimental evaluation accomplished with a series of measurements of electric field strength of various wireless devices. Complementary to the results of the incident electric field strength, the SAR WBmax values for 1-10 years old children during real-life exposure conditions to a few wireless communication devices are presented. The obtained results may contribute to derive recommendations on children exposure limits to specific wireless communication devices for far-field exposure scenarios.